A blog of complete and utter random-ness. Hence the name : Igloo on the Beach!
You'll find poems and stories here ranging from lost sisters, to my account on a particular shade of lime green; from my dream of Michael Jackson to a curious girl. So go ahead, take a peep into my world, and I hope you enjoy!

Sunday, 25 October 2015

THIS IS NOT A REGULAR POST OF MINE. IT IS A RANT. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET INTO ME RANTING ABOUT MY LIFE, PLEASE READ THIS OR THIS OR THIS, OR SEE THIS.

:D

So this blog is a year old, and just the other day I was sitting and thinking about what I was doing exactly a year ago (I do that often). I realised that at that time, I was eagerly (and repeatedly) refreshing my blogger stats page to see the number of views, or if anyone has left a comment on my 2-3 posts. Very clearly recalling my mom telling me to stop and prioritise, to study and finish some pending work. I had at that time obviously listened to her, and had completed immediate tasks. But now, I really need to prioritise. Being an 11th grade student in India, I have to figure out what I want to do with my life. It may not be what I will end up doing, but I have to have a plan in mind. The immense competition for admissions in this over-populated country does not help, at all.

I've always had a basic plan in mind, but now I'm just doubting it so much.
I want to go to a good college. I want to travel the world. I want to talk to people on the other side of this planet. I want to learn. I want to help. I want to be recognised.

But.
There is always a but.

I'm scared.
I'm so scared.

I know I'm not the only one feeling like this, it's not possible to be the only one.

Friday, 23 October 2015

Don't get me wrong, I love photography (raginianand.strikingly.com), but ever since my trip to Una, all I've done is edit those photographs, put them up here, then covered the Home Tournament in school which is up on the interwebs, here, and then covered practices for the annual function of my school (which I cannot put up). Then I have also edited the JUNE trip to Landour, Mussoorie and you can view those photographs here.

And yes this was a cheeky way of telling you that I have not only added new photographs to my Monuments Gallery, but made 2 brand new galleries.

Saturday, 17 October 2015

This post goes out to "Iglooonthebeach"; to the year that's gone by; to the year to come; and to a lot of people.

If you guys are wondering why there's this introduction on top,

IT'S MY BLOG'S BIRTHDAY!

It's a year old today;

born on 18th October, 2014.

Yay.

But there are way too many things to say right now, so enough with the celebrations (for now).

When I first started my blog, it was this boring looking page with just one post on it, the same wood-table template/image used by every other blog, and everyone who I told about my blog just said the same thing: "You won't be able to maintain the blog, it's a lot of work, you'll stop blogging in a month, Wanna bet?" The only interesting thing was the blog's name, that too my mom came up with that, after I became a whiny kid who couldn't think of a blog name :D

Thanks mommy!

Now, you have to understand one thing. My idea of starting a blog was never to write like this, or to share my "thoughts" in a speech format or talk about my day. The main purpose of my blog was to be a platform for me to show my writing, and later some photography, to the people online, specially since I'm not any other social media.

Over the course of the first week of me starting my blog, a friend's mom gave me a photoframe with a graphic of an igloo, on the beach. There was a short poem on it, encouraging me to write and blog more.

Later that week, asked for the graphic in .jpeg format, and that is what you see as my background now :)

Even though a lot of my friends were vary of why I started a blog, I continued, and even now, they'll laugh at the fact that I'm celebrating my blog's 1st birthday.

But going back to a year, and refreshing memories of how a friend discouraged me to start a blog, now I just feel plain proud of myself.

The year's gone by a bit too fast, and I've learnt a lot because of my blog, and have made a lot of "friends" online. I have also encountered some creeps online, but lets not talk about that :D

Although Igloo on the Beach is just 4 words for a stranger (unique combination though), for me, it's become this phrase, or a term.

I only typed the letter "i" and this is what happened.

I have an extremely wild imagination, and have crazy dreams everyday, and a few days back I dreamt how in a couple of years, the phrase "iglooonthebeach" can take a crazy world by storm, and become #IOTB. It could indicate random-ness, since that's what the blog is all about. Someday I post a really serious poem, and the next, a really random poem about masala tea on the streets of Delhi. I know it's crazy, but it was a dream okay?

There's an entire list of people to thank, and that's my entire circle on google plus. So take a look at that. But special mentions:

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Pravah, a Non Profit Organisation, aims to sensitise urban teenagers to life in the remote areas of India. In collaboration with my school, this organisation has been taking students of grade 11 to various villages in batches of 60 students for many years.

My group was taken to Una, a district in Himachal Pradesh, after reaching which, we were divided into 3 smaller groups to go to smaller villages. I and 19 others were taken to Amroh, a mere 4 km distance from Una. We lived in the local school there, and experienced activities which we would have never gotten the chance of doing in Delhi.

Here is my experience, through photographs. Due to privacy related reasons, I can't put up all the photographs, as the villagers were not comfortable with the idea of their faces being on the Internet.

Friday, 2 October 2015

When people try to impose their opinions onto me. I am someone who will always respect a person and their opinions even if they are completely different from mine, but if that person tries to impose their opinion/ belief/ ideas onto me, I will lose my shit.

Eggplant. I will eat whatever else, but I'll become a kid in a toy store and cry my lungs out if I'm forced to eat eggplant.

Hypocrites. I admit, even I'm a hypocrite sometimes, I mean, who isn't? But when a person is repeatedly changing his/her opinions according to what others are doing, it makes me want to punch that person in the face.

Racist/sexist/casteist/discriminatory morons. I can think of many a word to replace "moron" with, but I can't, because that would be rude. So is being racist to an Asian or an African, sexist and supporting gender disparities, and supporting the caste system. In this day and age, are you blind enough to not see that none of this matters and that at the end of the day, people around you are as smart as you are, it's just that they aren't given an opportunity?

Show offs. You get amazing grades, that's brilliant - infact, I'm happy for you. But. If you repeatedly shove that information, or that fact that you've got the new iPhone, into my face, I will not be very fond of you. Which leads to the next point.

Rich "brats". Just to point out that not all rich people are brats, but if you're a brat and think you're the most important human being on this planet just because your PARENTS money with which they have no idea what to do, PLEASE do not speak to me.

People who are ALWAYS optimistic. Please don't get me wrong; there is nothing wrong in thinking positively, I too am an optimist. But pure optimists also need to be able to see reality, and accept it. One cannot always be hoping and thinking that all will be well if a situation is given some time. You have to be pragmatic. I'm a very pragmatic person. I think you got that by now.